Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry Camouflage

Page created by Kathleen Clarke
 
CONTINUE READING
International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications
2020; 6(1): 1-11
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijaaa
doi: 10.11648/j.ijaaa.20200601.11
ISSN: 2472-1107 (Print); ISSN: 2472-1131 (Online)

 Review Article
Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry
Camouflage
Eun-Young Park
Department of Bioengineering, Graduate School of Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea

Email address:

To cite this article:
Eun-Young Park. Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry Camouflage. International Journal of Architecture, Arts and
Applications. Vol. 6, No. 1, 2020, pp. 1-11. doi: 10.11648/j.ijaaa.20200601.11

Received: November 26, 2019; Accepted: December 20, 2019; Published: January 7, 2020

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to establish a method and find a possible way of applying biomimicry camouflage in
body painting. This study seeks a direction for the future of the beauty and art industry through biomimicry. For this study, we
analyzed the works by classifying camouflage body painting into passive and active camouflage sections based on the
application of biomimicry to the artificial camouflage system. In terms of detailed types, passive camouflage was classified
into general resemblance and special resemblance, and active camouflage into adventitious resemblance and variable
protective resemblance, and expression characteristics and type were derived. Passive camouflage is the work of the pictorial
expressive technique using aqueous and oily body painting products. The general resemblance was expressed as a body
painting of crypsis and camouflage strategies. The special resemblance is a mimicry in which the human body camouflages the
whole figure of living organisms or inanimate objects. Active camouflage is a work that uses a special body painting product
with the object and airbrush techniques. The adventitious resemblance was camouflaged with the object technique, the most
primitive camouflage method. The variable protective resemblance was expressed in abstract motifs with a variety of colors
and optical illusions using special body painting products. As a result of the research, body painting in the field of applied arts
can best express camouflage, and the development of new materials and techniques through biomimicry can expand the scope
of expression in body painting.
Keywords: Biomimicry Camouflage, Body Painting, Beauty Industry, Art Industry

                                                                    camouflage in body painting. The study classified
1. Introduction                                                     biomimicry camouflage-based body painting works into
   Zoologist, Hugh Bamford Cott (July 06, 1900–April 18,            passive and active camouflage. The detailed types refer to the
1987) insisted that camouflage is both art and science. As          classification by British evolutionary biologist, Edward
such, camouflage, a form of art and science, was developed          Bagnall Poulton, who first classified and organized the
in various ways by the natural environment as a means of            different types of camouflage. Thus, the works were
false decoration in order to reveal neither identity nor body.      classified into general resemblance for passive camouflage,
Camouflage has also been used for a long time in the animal         special resemblance, adventitious resemblance for active
kingdom, as well as by humankind, to assist with hunting            camouflage, and variable protective resemblance. Preceding
activities, as well as to assist in survival. However, modern       papers for this are Eun-Young Park (2018), “Analysis of
camouflage is considered at a much more scientific level.           Biomimicry Behavioral Level-based Art Makeup Design” [1]
Therefore, in this paper, the expression, characteristics and       and Eun-Young Park (2018), “Analysis of Biomimicry
types of camouflage body painting were derived based on the         Organism Level-based Art Makeup Design” [2] While the
application and implementation of biomimicry to an artificial       preceding paper focused on the biomimicry level 3 level base
camouflage system. The purpose of this study is to find a           of the organism level and the behavioral level, this paper
method and examine the possibility of applying biomimicry           focuses on the biomimicry camouflage base.
                                                                       Biomimicry has infinite potential to provide humanity with
2                         Eun-Young Park:    Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry Camouflage

natural and smart technology. Therefore, biomimicry-based           2.1.2. Active Camouflage
research in the beauty and art industries will enable us to            Active camouflage or adaptive camouflage is used among
expand the scope of eco-efficiency and various artistic             several groups of animals, including reptiles on land, and
activities by combining biological discovery and engineering        cephalopod molluscs and flatfish in the sea. Animals achieve
development with artistic inspiration.                              active camouflage both by changing color and by
                                                                    counter-illumination, with the use of bioluminescence [6].
2. Theoretical Background                                           Animals that perform rapid adaptive camouflage with
                                                                    physiological color change use visual perception to identify
2.1. Camouflage                                                     their environment and display appropriate camouflage
                                                                    patterns. How animals perceive their environment is not
   The word camouflage came into existence and was coined           entirely clear, however, the consensus is that the majority of
in France in 1917 during World War I. It comes from the verb        perceived information is visual and processed in the brain.
“camoufler,” which means make up and disguise. Before the           Visual perception has been extensively studied in cuttlefish,
war, it was a word used in theater, and during the war, it was      which are known for their rapid adaptation capabilities [4].
used instead of the terms “cryptic coloration” or “protective          Active camouflage is the type that adapts, often rapidly, to
coloration.” [3]                                                    the surrounding of an object such as an animal or military
   Camouflage is a survival skill that animals use to deceive       vehicle. In theory, active camouflage could provide perfect
other animals and to hide and has been extensively                  concealment from visual detection [7]. Also, it provides
researched. Animals camouflage themselves in a wide variety         concealment not just by making an object generally similar to
of ways using patterns, textures, or shapes that are suited to      its surroundings, but by making it effectively invisible with
their environment [4]. The majority of camouflage methods           “illusory transparency” through accurate mimicry, and by
aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the         changing the appearance of the object as changes occur in the
background, high contrast disruptive coloration, eliminating        background [8].
shadow, and countershading.
                                                                    2.1.3. Translucent Camouflage
2.1.1. Passive (Static) Camouflage                                     Whole animals or parts of animals can be translucent and,
   Many animals and plants, especially insects, can look            therefore, nearly invisible. To achieve translucence, reflection
like inert objects such as bits of wood or stones. Because          of incident light must be kept to a minimum, and light must
of their colored wings, many moths can conceal                      be neither scattered nor absorbed as it passes through the
themselves when placed against a suitable background                body. Scattering is caused by variations in refractive index.
such as the bark of a tree. The peppered moth in industrial         Animal tissue normally has many variations in refractive
areas of England has been held as a classic example of              index. The most important factors are the distribution and
natural selection, as birds usually eat peppered moths that         size of the components. Refractive index is comparatively
were visible only when they were sitting on unsuitably              less important, and the shape of the components is the least
colored barks. In this instance, the moth was originally            important. Many organisms living in the deep ocean, where
light with a small black speckling, but pollution produced          there is little or no ambient light to be reflected or by which
in the early industrial revolution blackened the trees. Thus,       camouflage color can be seen, produce their own light. The
an initially rare, dark form of the moth was less easily seen       organisms that do this photophores can be mounted on
and eaten. Later, with the reduced pollution and clearing           mechanisms that rotate them so that they face the body and
of the woods, the barks were lighter and better lit, and thus,      are effectively obscured, and, thus, can be modulated and
the lighter-colored form predominated again. Similarly,             switched on and off [5].
many nesting birds are difficult to see; ground-nesting
birds have camouflaged eggs and chicks. Many insects,               2.1.4. Reflecting Camouflage
especially grasshoppers, have bright hind wings that                   The most difficult view of camouflage is that from directly
disappear when the insect stops flying, settles, and folds          underneath when the fish obscures light from above. Many
its wings, thus getting camouflaged. This sudden change             clupeids, such as the threadfin shag Dorosoma pretense, are
makes it difficult to spot the insect.                              thin and come to a sharp point at the belly. This allows light
   Another basic component of passive camouflage, well              from above to be reflected vertically downwards over its
known to technology, is countershading: a process in which          entire outline. Another form of reflecting camouflage is
those parts of the body that are normally well illuminated are      provided by the cuticles of some scarab beetles. The cuticle is
darkly - colored and those that are normally shaded are             made of structures that look like liquid crystals, mainly
lightly - colored. This is seen in both terrestrial and aquatic     nematic and cholesteric. Thus, of the incident light on the
animals; the corollary is the larva of the privet hawk moth         cuticle, the right circularly polarized component can be
which is dark on the underside and light on the upper side          reflected, and the left circularly polarized light can penetrate
and habitually hangs inverted beneath its twig. This effect         the helicoidally structured cuticle. However, at a certain
visually flattens the shape of the animal, making it difficult to   depth, there is a layer of nematic structure that acts as a
judge its size and how far away it is [5].                          half-wave plate, reversing the sense of polarization of the
                                                                    light, which is then reflected when it reaches the next layer of
International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications 2020; 6(1): 1-11                          3

helicoidal structure, has its sense of polarization reversed          3.1. Passive Camouflage
again by the nematic layer, and continues back out through
the helicoidal cuticle with very little loss. The refractive             Protective color is a typical protective function and survival
index of the cuticle increases by the addition of uric acid.          strategy that utilizes camouflage and crypsis, where organisms
Thus, the cuticle is an almost perfect reflector, making the          change body color and pattern according to their surroundings.
beetle appear the same shade of green as its surroundings.            The pattern applied by the protective color is called
This system will work only when the color and light intensity         camouflage and its dictionary definition is to paint or cover
are the same in all directions [5].                                   military soldiers, equipment and installations to blend in with
                                                                      surroundings. It also means the natural color and shape of an
2.1.5. Motion Camouflage                                              animal that blends in with its surroundings.
   Motion camouflage is camouflage that provides a degree                Figures 1 and 2 show a camouflage pattern designed to be
of concealment for a moving object, given that motion makes           invisible to the enemy, as a typical application of passive
objects easy to detect however well their coloration matches          camouflage. It is still applied to military uniforms and military
their background or breaks up their outlines [9]. This is a           equipment around the world to function as camouflage. The
stealth shadowing technique used by, for instance, the                pattern chosen for this camouflage combat dress was called
dragonfly approaching its prey on the wing. The dragonfly             “frog-skin” (See Figure 1) and was derived from experiments
follows a path in which it always lies on a time connecting           carried out by the US Army’s Corps of Engineers in 1940. The
itself with a fixed point. Then the only visual cue to the            winning design was chosen from one created by Norvell
dragonfly’s approach is its looming. Thus, the observer of the        Gillespie, a horticulturist and the gardening editor of Better
object sees no movement away from the direction of the                Homes and Gardens. His inspiration came from the natural
fixed point. The fixed point could be a part of the background        patterning on amphibians, consisting of abstract rounded
against which the dragonfly is camouflaged or the initial             shapes [11]. However, many countries currently use “digital
position of the dragonfly, in which case the dragonfly appears        patterns” with excellent camouflage effects (see Figure 2).
not to have moved from its starting point [5].                        Also, many modern camouflage textiles address the question
                                                                      of visibility, not just visible light but also near-infrared, for
2.2. Body Painting                                                    concealment from night vision devices.
   Body painting can be defined as the application of paint to
the human body. Paint is formed by pigments, which act as
coloring substances, and a binding medium which gives
cohesion to the mixture and helps it adhere to the surface of
the object where the paint is applied. This surface, in turn,
acts as a support to the painting. In body painting, the support
is the body skin and sometimes its hair too, especially when
the head is covered with paint [10]. Unlike tattoos and other
forms of permanent body art, body painting is temporary,
painted onto the human skin, and lasts for one day, or at most,
a couple of weeks. In the twentieth century, the development
of various products led to the manufacture of various colors
and textures. In particular, the development of aqueous paints
led to the growth of body painting techniques.                                        Figure 1. Frog-skin military camouflage.
   Body painting is an art form of the moment, a bridge
between most human tribal traditions and contemporary art.
It is becoming a field of unique art in its own right based on
the human body. Body art is also a sub-category of
performance art, in which artists use or abuse their own body
to make their particular statements.

3. Examples of Biomimicry Camouflage
   In Chapter 3, implementing passive and active artificial
camouflage systems using camouflage methods grounded in
theory is considered. Artificial camouflage not only learns
from natural camouflage but may also contribute to research
into natural camouflage. But research on artificial
                                                                                       Figure 2. Digital military camouflage.
camouflage systems is still in its early stage, as the biological
mechanisms of animal camouflage are not yet fully                       Members of different tribes living in Africa, Australia,
understood.                                                           Papua New Guinea, and North America frequently painted
4                         Eun-Young Park:   Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry Camouflage

their brown naked body surfaces with white or bright
yellow/grey/beige stripes. The patterns (e.g., stripy, spotty,
wavy and checkered) of these paintings are extremely diverse
and are used as body decoration. This can be for the purposes
of emotional expression or as marks to signify personal
identity and/ or group affiliation. The stripes of these body
paintings are similar to the stripes occurring on the pelage of
zebras and okapis. Cultural reasons may determine their
designs, but it has been suggested that they could also serve a
function in heat regulation or as camouflage. Where the
majority of people using body painting presently live,
blood-sucking horseflies are abundant, and they frequently
attack the naked brown surface area of the human body with
the risk of transmitting the pathogens of dangerous diseases.
However, horseflies are deterred by the black and white
stripes of zebras. On this basis, experiments were conducted
in Hungary, and three different plastic human models were
used: homogeneous dark brown, dark brown with white                                       Figure 4. Brown.
stripes and homogeneous light beige. The light beige model
(Figure 3) was used as a control and was intended to model
people with fair skin, whereas the dark brown models (Figure
4) were intended to model people with darker skin such as
members of the indigenous tribal communities of Africa,
Australia and North America. The white stripes (Figure 5)
produced using common oil paint on one of the two brown
models mimicked the stripes of African and Australian tribal
body paintings [12].
   The study shows that body painting provides protection
against insects. A brown plastic model of a human attracted
ten times as many horseflies as a dark model painted with
white stripes. The researchers also found that the
beige-colored plastic figure used as a control model attracted
twice as many bloodsuckers as the striped model. Thus, this
study offers experimental evidence that striped body
paintings confer protection against biting horseflies by
making the body less visually attractive to them.                                   Figure 5. White-striped brown.

                                                                     An Australian company, Shark Attack Mitigation Systems,
                                                                  has developed a line of anti-shark wetsuits that will repel
                                                                  sharks or camouflage a swimmer, based on scientific studies
                                                                  of sharks’ sense of sight. Sharks are believed to be
                                                                  color-blind, and the new wetsuits are designed with that in
                                                                  mind, according to Shaun Collin, a researcher with the
                                                                  University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute, as told to
                                                                  Agence France-Presse (AFP) [13].
                                                                     The new wetsuits use a specific combination of colors and
                                                                  patterns, providing two strategies for protection:
                                                                     (Figure 6) The “Elude” design allows the wearer to
                                                                  effectively blend with background colors in the water making
                                                                  it very difficult for a predatory shark to detect the person or
                                                                  to focus.
                                                                     (Figure 7) The second “Diverter” design makes the user
                                                                  appear highly visible while using disruptive color patterns
                                                                  totally unlike any normal prey. The Warning Surfer design
                                                                  integrates with a patterned surfboard design to render a full
                                                                  visual from below when the surfer is paddling or stationary
                        Figure 3. Beige.
                                                                  [14].
International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications 2020; 6(1): 1-11                                    5

                                                                       integrated into electronics for a variety of applications, from
                                                                       military to industrial uses, according to the researchers.

                     Figure 6. Cryptic diver.

                                                                       Figure 8. Image of a device in operation while bent, while showing the text
                                                                       pattern “U o I” (for University of Illinois).

                                                                          The Tachi Laboratory at the University of Tokyo has
                                                                       developed numerous applications as regards Retroreflective
                                                                       Projection Technology (RPT). One of them involves a system
                                                                       for active camouflage in which a camera and projector are set
                     Figure 7. Warning surfer.                         up in front of the eye of an observer, as shown in Figures 9
                                                                       [8]. This is a transparent cloak (see Figure 10) using optical
3.2. Active Camouflage                                                 illusions so that wearers become transparent and disappear. It
                                                                       takes a video of the surrounding images and puts them on
   Cephalopods employ their chromomorphic skins for rapid              clothing through projection mapping. It acts as a camouflage
and versatile active camouflage and signaling effects. This is         effect that instantly assimilates the wearer to the environment,
achieved using dense networks of pigmented, muscle-driven              making it difficult to distinguish the person.
chromatophore cells which are stimulated by the brain to                  In other examples, Canadian and German military
actuate and affect local skin coloring. This allows                    researchers are developing a chameleon-like armored vehicle
cephalopods to adopt numerous dynamic and complex skin                 capable of altering its appearance to conceal itself from the
patterns, most commonly used to blend into the environment             enemy. The British defense research agency, QinetiQ, is
or to communicate with other animals [15]. Researchers have            working on an active camouflage system called “rugged
created a man-made system that mimics this form of                     smart skins.” NASA has commissioned studies of this
camouflage. The team developed flexible sheets of light                invisibility technology, called “adaptive camouflage.”
sensors, containing a temperature-sensitive dye, that can                 All of these developments typically include a network of
automatically sense and adapt to the color of their                    electronic flat panel display units, each containing a camera,
surroundings (See Figure 8).                                           configured into a flexible array. Light direction, color,
   The color-changing elements act like chromatophores, the            intensity, and other information is required to produce the
tiny pigment-containing and light-reflecting organs in                 image on the displays [8].
cephalopods. The reflective background is like leucophores                The camouflage technique, which is assimilated into the
(white chromatophores found in some cephalopod species);               environment using digital and high-tech materials, also
the motors act like the muscles that control the                       appears in the 2009 “Digital Skins” (See Figure 11)
chromatophores; and the light sensor acts like structures that         published by Nancy Tilbury. Body modifications, such as that
contain opsins, which are light-sensitive receptors involved           carried out by chameleons, occurs by projecting light and
in vision. The researchers tested their camouflage material,           images onto specially made material. Also, the boundary of
showing that it was able to adapt to changing patterns of light        the body and the surrounding environment is blurred,
in its surroundings within 1 to 2 seconds, according to the            allowing for the selection of concealment and revealing. This
scientists [16].                                                       is a future textile example. So, through projection mapping,
   Systems such as this could lead to adaptive camouflage              IP triggers, and facial recognition, people could overlay
technology that could be tuned to its environment, and                 themselves with glowing designs, customized only for their
6                              Eun-Young Park:       Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry Camouflage

bodies [17].                                                                   Biomimicry camouflage is not only visual; heat, sound,
                                                                             magnetism and even smell can be used to target weapons and
                                                                             maybe intentionally conceal them. Recently, camouflage has
                                                                             been developed with high optical illusion techniques in
                                                                             various fields due to the development of new printing and
                                                                             digital technologies.

                                                                             4. Body Painting Type Based on
                                                                                Biomimicry Camouflage
                                                                                Camouflage has had an extraordinary impact on the art and
                                                                             design industries over the last hundred years. Born out of the
                                                                             war in an age of machines it takes its inspiration from the
                                                                             natural world. By its very nature, camouflage has always
                                                                             attracted visual and creative talents, especially during the two
               Figure 9. RPT System for active camouflage.                   World Wars [11]. Since the beginning of camouflage, which
                                                                             mimicked the protective color of living things during World
                                                                             War I, it has had a lot of influence on popular culture,
                                                                             especially in the contemporary arts.
                                                                                Therefore, this study classifies and analyzes camouflage
                                                                             body painting into passive and active camouflage based on
                                                                             case studies of biomimicry camouflage application.
                                                                             4.1. Passive Camouflage

                                                                             4.1.1. General Resemblance
                                                                                Protective resemblance is used by prey to avoid being
                                                                             hunted. It includes special protective resemblance, now called
                                                                             mimesis, where the whole animal looks like some other object,
     Figure 10. RPT with projection on a retroreflective cloak (2003).
                                                                             for example when a caterpillar resembles a twig or a bird
                                                                             dropping. Generally, in protective resemblance, now called
                                                                             crypsis, the animal’s texture blends with the background [3].
                                                                             Most cases of camouflage fall into this category, and the tree
                                                                             bark mimicry of many moths is typical.
                                                                                Uroplatus sikorae (see Figure 12) has coloration developed
                                                                             as camouflage, mostly grayish brown to black or greenish
                                                                             brown with various markings meant to resemble tree bark
                                                                             down to the lichens and moss found on the bark. Additionally,
                                                                             it has flaps of skin running the length of its body, head, and
                                                                             limbs, known as the dermal flaps, which it can lay against the
                                                                             tree during the day, scattering shadows, and making its outline
                                                                             practically invisible [18]. The caterpillars of the peppered
                                                                             moth (Biston betularia) not only mimic the form but also the
                                                                             color of a twig (see Figure 13). Recent research indicates that
                                                                             the caterpillars can sense the twig’s color with their skin and
                                                                             match their body color to the background to protect
                                                                             themselves from predators [19].
                                                                                Figures 14 and 15 show examples of applying camouflage
                                                                             strategies to body painting to change the color and pattern of
                                                                             the body, to make them similar to the surroundings, to protect
                                                                             themselves from predators. Figure 14 shows the technique of
                                                                             body painting to disguise the human body as part of the bark.
                                                                             Figure 15 shows the human body as a part of nature by
                                                                             realistically expressing the moss-covered stone on the human
                                                                             body by using the stipple technique.
Figure 11. Nacny Tilbury, Digital Skins, 2009 (Braddock & Harris, 2012, p.
141).
International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications 2020; 6(1): 1-11                           7

                                                             4.1.2. Special Resemblance
                                                                Special resemblance means that an organism takes the
                                                             shape of an object. Mimicry of leaves, twigs, sticks, and stones
                                                             falls into this category. The most amazing mimetic organisms
                                                             are the Kallima inachus or South African living stones
                                                             (Lithops), which seem to overturn the animal/plant/mineral
                                                             classification system. Kallima inachus is an animal tissue that
                                                             pretends to be a plant, and Lithops is a plant that pretends to be
                                                             a mineral [3].
                                                                The butterfly wings of K. inachus (see Figure 16) are
                                                             shaped like a leaf when in the closed position. When the wings
                                                             are closed, only the cryptic underside markings are visible,
        Figure 12. Uroplatus sikorae.                        which consists of irregular patterns and striations in many
                                                             shades of biscuit, buff, brown, yellow, and black. The veins
                                                             are darkened and resemble the veins of a leaf. The
                                                             resemblance to a dried leaf, a masquerade, is extremely
                                                             realistic and gives the genus its common names, the oakleaf or
                                                             dead leaf [20]. Lithops (commonly called “flowering stones”
                                                             or “living stones”) are true mimicry plants (see Figure 17):
                                                             their shape, size, and color causes them to resemble small
                                                             stones in their natural surroundings. The plants blend in
                                                             among the stones as a means of protection [21].
                                                                One of the most famous body painters today, Johannes
                                                             Stötter, created this tropical frog by painting on five people.
                                                             Bringing his artwork to life with each brushstroke, and
Figure 13. Biston betularia (Peppered Moth).
                                                             creating detailed effects with his hands, he fuses the seen and
                                                             unseen into one (Figure 18). This artist creates incredible
                                                             optical illusions using nothing but humans and body paint.
                                                             The five models were fully camouflaged in the form of frogs,
                                                             with the forelimbs, hind legs, and torso of the frog. Figure 19
                                                             is a special resemblance to a typical passive camouflage
                                                             disguised by the human body as an inanimate object. Using
                                                             the human body as a form of art material, it expresses
                                                             camouflage body painting with color and texture such as the
                                                             surrounding stone.

Figure 14. Body painting by Johannes Stoetter.

                                                                                   Figure 16. Kallima inachus.

Figure 15. Body painting by Johannes Stoetter.                                         Figure 17. Lithops.
8                           Eun-Young Park:       Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry Camouflage

                                                                        surrounding environment and attaching them for crypsis.
                                                                        Figure 22 shows the body painted by an airbrush and
                                                                        decorated with grass and twigs. The human body is
                                                                        accommodated in nature and disguised as a natural sculpture.
                                                                        It expresses the beauty of the human body in harmony with
                                                                        nature. In Figure 23, the body is first painted brown, and then
                                                                        camouflaged with secondary soil, moss, and stone. Nature’s
                                                                        color and texture are expressed as it is—the human body has
                                                                        become part of nature.

            Figure 18. Body painting by Johannes Stoetter.

                                                                                           Figure 20. Hyastenus elatus.

          Figure 19. Mozambique project by Veruschka, 1972.

4.2. Active Camouflage

4.2.1. Adventitious Resemblance
   Adventitious resemblance or self-decoration camouflage is
a method of camouflage in which animals or soldiers select
materials, sometimes living, from the environment and attach                              Figure 21. Reduvius personatus.
these to themselves for concealment. For adventitious
protection, an animal uses materials such as twigs, sand, or
pieces of shell to conceal its outline, for example when a
caddis fly larva builds a decorated case, or when a decorator
crab decorates its back with seaweed, sponges, and stones [3].
   Decorator crabs of many species camouflage themselves with
pieces of seaweed, shells, small stones, and living organisms
such as hydrozoa, sponges, and sea anemones to evade predators
(see Figure 20). They pick up these pieces and stick them to their
shells as semi-permanent camouflage, keeping them until the
next molt. Their shells are covered with curved hairs to hold the
decorations. Reduvius personatus or the masked hunter (see
Figure 21) is an insect belonging to the assassin bug (Reduviidae)
family. The name derives from the fact that its nymphs
camouflage themselves with dust or small flakes of wood [22].
   This category refers to the use of objects, the most primitive
camouflage method of selecting materials from the
                                                                                             Figure 22. Body painting.
International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications 2020; 6(1): 1-11                             9

                                                                       body painting can prominently represent the colorful and
                                                                       visual elements of light emission. Therefore, it stimulates
                                                                       liveliness and visual perception to show active camouflage.
                                                                          If the intrinsic feature of the ecosystem is life, then the
                                                                       camouflage body painting done on the human body would be
                                                                       the same as art creating life. As such, the human body's
                                                                       ecosystem camouflage shown in the examples of body
                                                                       painting demonstrates that the human body is a formative
                                                                       object by revealing and hiding the visible and the invisible.
                                                                       Therefore, body painting, a field of applied art, is one of the
                                                                       areas that best expresses camouflage.

                     Figure 23. Body painting.

4.2.2. Variable Protective Resemblance
   In variable protective resemblance, an animal such as a
chameleon, flatfish, squid or octopus changes its skin pattern
and color using special chromatophore cells to resemble
whatever background it is currently resting on [3]. Cuttlefish
are well known for their unmatched camouflaging abilities
which are possibly due to light scattering leucophores,
pigmented chromatophore organs, and structurally reflecting                           Figure 24. Sepia apama (camouflage mode).
iridophores all located in their skin. These specialized
characteristics give them the ability to not only change their
color, but also change the texture and appearance of their skin
and all of this is done despite them being color-blind [23].
   Research is currently underway to mimic creatures like the
cuttlefish and octopus to develop skins that can chemically
react to shifts in light, as well as have the ability to actively
change their surface texture. The giant Australian cuttlefish
(Sepia apama) in Figures 24 and 25 alters the relative size of
its pigment-bearing chromatophores and warps its muscular
skin to switch between camouflage mode (see Figure 24) and
communication mode (see Figure 25) in under a second [24].
   Figure 26 shows an optical illusion where the abstract motif
and the marbling effect of body painting are combined with a                        Figure 25. Sepia apama (communication mode).
two-dimensional background. It is expressed as if the
chameleon and octopus are assimilated with the surrounding
color so that their size and appearance are not revealed. Figure
27 shows a body painting done with the action painting
technique. Action painting is also called gesture abstraction
and is a painting style that naturally dribbles, bounces, or
stains rather than being applied carefully. The product used for
body painting is a special paint that emits UV light and reacts
to black light. This is a direct and orderly neon color effect
with the intense color and dynamic sense of UV. The UV light
and black light expression techniques are scientific body
painting techniques that combine body painting paint and light.
UV light paints appear opaque in normal lighting but show
more vivid colors in UV light (blacklight). In particular, this
expression technique has a sharpness of color depending on
the number of watts of the UV light and is more effective                          Figure 26. Colors of devotion 2, Bella Volen, 2017.
when using the UV light alone than other condensing. UV
10                         Eun-Young Park:        Body Painting Type Analysis Based on Biomimicry Camouflage

                                                                        References
                                                                        [1]   Eun-Young Park. Analysis of Biomimicry Behavioral
                                                                              Level-based Art Makeup Design. Journal of The Korean
                                                                              Society of Beauty and Arts. Vol. 19, No. 1, 2018.

                                                                        [2]   Eun-Young Park. Analysis of Biomimicry Organism
                                                                              Level-based Art Makeup Design. Journal of The Korean
                                                                              Society of Beauty and Arts. Vol. 19, No. 3, 2018.

                                                                        [3]   Peter Forbes, Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage.
                                                                              Yale, New Haven and London, 2012, pp. 50-71.

                                                                        [4]   Yang Li and Nikolaus Correll. From Natural to Artificial
                                                                              Camouflage: Components and Systems. Department of
                                                                              Computer Science. University of Colorado Boulder, USA,
                   Figure 27. UV body painting.                               2018.

                                                                        [5]   Yoseph Bar-Cohen. Biomimetics: Biologically Inspired
5. Conclusions                                                                Technologies. II ECCOMAS THEMATIC CONFERENCE
                                                                              ON SMART STRUCTURES AND MATERIALS. C. A. Mota
   Camouflage body painting is classified into passive and                    Soares et al. (Eds.). Lisbon, Portugal, 2005, pp. 18-21.
active camouflage based on the biomimicry application of the
artificial camouflage system. Passive camouflage uses                   [6]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_camouflage.
aqueous and oily body painting products and is expressed in a           [7]   Akash Ravindran and Akshay Premkumar. Camouflage
pictorial expressive technique that is a way of shaping the                   Technology. International Journal of Emerging Technology in
subject with realistic expression. Active camouflage is                       Computer Science & Electronics (IJETCSE). Vol. 3, No. 1,
expressed as an object technique to form or shape using                       2014.
materials and an airbrush technique to spray paint by air               [8]   Kent, McKee and David Tack. Active Camouflage for Infantry
pressure. The products were classified into works of abstract                 Headwear Applications. Defence Research and Development.
motifs using special products such as UV body paints and                      Canada, Toronto, 2007.
airbrush paints. The conclusion is as follows.
                                                                        [9]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.
   As regards passive camouflage, first, general resemblance
expressed in body painting is done through crypsis and                  [10] Danca Fiore. Body Painting in Tierra del Fuego. The Power of
camouflage strategies, the protective coloration that changes                Images in the Uttermost Part of the World. Degree of Doctor
the body's color and pattern to protect itself, similar to its               of Philosophy, University College London, 2001.
surroundings. Second, special resemblance is a mimicry that             [11] Tim Newark and Jonathan Miller. Camouflage. Published by
looks exactly like the living organisms, and the human body                  Thames and Hudson Ltd. 2009, pp. 8, 129.
perfectly camouflages the whole figure of living organisms or
                                                                        [12] Gábor Horváth, Ádám Pereszlényi, Susanne Åkesson and
inanimate objects.                                                           György Kriska. Striped Bodypainting Protects Against
   In active camouflage, first, adventitious resemblance is                  Horseflies. Royal Society Open Science. Vol. 6, No. 1,
the most primitive method of camouflage using an object.                     2019.
After body painting on the human body, it was disguised as
                                                                        [13] https://www.livescience.com/38350-anti-shark-wetsuits-inspir
an object of nature and became a natural sculpture. Second,                  ed-by-nature.html.
variable protective resemblance means that the living
organisms are assimilated with the surrounding color and                [14] https://themermaidsociety.com.au/science-help-decrease-shark
do not reveal their size or appearance. Using abstract motifs                -attacks.
and special body painting products, marbling effects and                [15] Aaron Fishman, Jonathan Rossiter and Martin Homer. Hiding
action paintings are expressed in varied colors and optical                  the Squid: Patterns in Artificial Cephalopod Skin. Journal of
illusions.                                                                   the Royal Society Interface. Vol. 6, No. 108, 2015.
   This study sought a direction for the future of the beauty           [16] Cunjiang Yu, Yuhang Li, Xun Zhang, Xian Huang, Viktor
and art industries through biomimicry. Therefore, based on the               Malyarchuk, Shuodao Wang, Yan Shi, Li Gao, Yewang Su,
above conclusions, biomimicry-based camouflage body                          Yihui Zhang, Hangxun Xu, Roger Hanlon, Yonggang Huang
painting can demonstrate the most direct way in which                        and John Rogers. Adaptive Optoelectronic Camouflage
humans relate to ecosystems. Thus, body painting in the                      Systems with Designs Inspired by Cephalopod Skins.
                                                                             Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
applied arts field can best express camouflage, and the                      United States of America. Vol. 111, No. 36, 2014.
development of new materials and techniques through
biomimicry can expand the scope of expression in the field of           [17] Yeonjae Yoo. The Expressive Characteristics and Internal
body painting.                                                               Meanings of Biomimicry Applied to Contemporary Fashion.
                                                                             Graduate School, Kyungpook University. 2018, p. 990.
International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications 2020; 6(1): 1-11                             11

[18] Eric Pianka and Laurie Vitt. Lizards: Windows to the               [22] https://en.wikipedia.org.
     Evolution of Diversity. Berkeley: University of California
     Press. 2006, p. 247.                                               [23] Lydia Mäthger, Chuan-Chin Chiao, Alexandra Barbosa and
                                                                             Roger Hanlon. Color Matching on Natural Substrates in
[19] Eacock, A., Rowland, H. R., van’t Hof, A. E., Yung, C.,                 Cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis. Journal of Comparative
     Edmonds, N., Saccheri, I. J. Caterpillars of the Peppered Moth          Physiology. Vol. 194, No. 3, 2008.
     Perceive Color Through Their Skin to Match Their Body
     Color to the Background. Retrieved 2 August 2019.                  [24] Innes Cuthill, William Allen, Kevin Arbuckle, Barbara
                                                                             Caspers, Cuthill et al., The Biology of color. Science. Vol. 357,
[20] Hugh Cott, Adaptive Coloration in Animals. Oxford                       No. 6350, 2017.
     University Press. 1940, pp. 318-320.

[21] http://www.lithops.info.
You can also read